[Bordermarch] Questions posted July 18 by Mistress Lorainne DeerSlayer for demographics

[Cindi Picou]

Thanks for the fascinating reading. I am really enjoying these responses, but I have to ask if you are sending them to Mistress Lorraine as well as to this list. (Tessa's post requested that we send our replies to Lorraine, I do not believe that she is a member of this list.) I just want to make certain that Lorraine is able to include these wonderful memories and viewpoints in her research.
 
Cindi

Lou Burgin <lburgin at gt.rr.com> wrote:
(Q)1. What attracted you to the SCA?
(A) My brother Iain was already a member so I had heard of it, but then I
saw Simonn and Tessa in the audience of a production of Macbeth at Lamar (in
garb)so I went to check it out.

(Q)2. What is your perspective of what the SCA is to you?
(A) On the surface, the SCA is a hobby, fun, enjoyable past time, but
deeper it is a family who shares values that I think are important. Honor,
courtesy, responsibility for ones actions are values that are dwindling in
the outside world. Like Simonn and Tessa, I like that it provides a
saturation teaching of these values to our children. When at events, these
behaviors are common and the norm, they become comfortable to our children
and they can take that confidence into the wider word.

(Q)3. Where do you invest the most time and energy in the SCA (household,
local group, kingdom, specific activity)?
(A) Because of present physical and financial constraints, mostly local and
household (Bladesong). I hope that will be changing in the near future.

(Q)4. How long before you started to take initiative in the SCA (applying
for an office, organizing an activity, etc.?)
(A) Within the first year. I was MOAS, locally, learned to run a list
right away, and was lady in waiting for Tessa on numerous occaisions.

(Q)5. Were there instances that could have "run you out of the SCA"..why did
they not...or why did you come back?
(A) It almost happened, hurt feelings, loss of faith in people. I refused
to leave with my reputation mistakenly tarnished, so I stayed and remained
who I had always been until people saw the mistake. It was hard, but made
bearable with the support of my SCA family.

(Q)6. How long before you burned out? Why did you burn out? Is there
anything
anyone could have done to help keep you from "burning out"?
(A) About 14 years. I will not discuss it, it should be erased from SCA
memory. That is a double edged sword. That which attracts us is the
idealistic recreation of a "better" time, but that idealism can give us a
skewed view of the people in the SCA also. Perhaps we need to remember that
it is a hobby, and people are people who are flawed and make mistakes.
Holding them to an unrealistic standard because of what they where on their
head or around their waist is asking for disappointment when they revel
their humanity.

(Q)7. What do you get out of the SCA?
(A) One gets from something in direct proportion to what one puts into
it. I left the first sentence because I agree with it. Foremost I get a
sense of belonging and rightness. The exposure to history and cultures is
by all means enjoyable, but I fell it is the window dressing. What keeps me
coming back is the feeling of belonging to something great in it's basic
form. This is re-enforced when there is a tragedy and the people of this
group give of themselves to someone that they may have never met, because
they are a member of this "community". But the tragedy only shines a
spotlight, the giving and sense of oneness is the constant that keeps us
here.

(Q)8. If you have your AoA...how long did you get it after starting to
participate in the SCA?
(A) About 18 months.

(Q) and last but not least...why do you think that people should join the
SCA
and stay in it?
(A) One of the reasons I am for not pressing for membership money right
away, is because I think a person should be able to see if the SCA suits
them. It is not for everyone. And everyone gets something different out of
it. From the "Authenticity Purists" to the "Just here for the beer" crowd,
ther is room for everyone within reason. I think it reflects well on the
tolerance of SCA people as a whole that there is such a wide acceptance.
For myself, my children are self confident, honest, honorable, giving,
respectful, with a very keen sense of right and wrong and the courage to
speak up against wrong when they see it. All of these attributes I connect
directly to the influence of the SCA. Perhaps they would have been just the
same with out it, the world will never know.


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Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world 
Albert Einstein

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